Mold packages are often fabricated to cast molded parts and these mold packages will generally vary depending on the application and cast product requirements.
In developing prototype wheel assemblies, a mold package must be created to cast the wheel wherein a molten metal material will be poured into the mold package to form cast wheels. Such mold packages have generally been produced using subtractive manufacturing techniques such as using a CNC machine to carve molds from metal billets to form cope and drag mold packages having a mold cavity representing the shape of a wheel. Inherent with subtractive manufacturing techniques, the mold designer is limited as subtractive manufacturing techniques cannot produce all the specific geometrical configurations that may be incorporated in a wheel design such as undercuts and expanding cavities. Further, given the nature of a prototype wheel being used as a prototype for vehicle testing, it is not necessary to create a mold package that has the tolerances or cycle life of a mold package which would be used for a wheel that is in regular production. Thus, there is a desire to create mold packages that can incorporate intricate design features of various types of prototype wheels, wherein the mold package is able to be produced relatively quickly so that the prototype wheel can be cast and tested. Further, it is desirable to have a mold package that can be used for the prototype wheel assembly, but that does not have the manufacturing and design lead time of a standard production mold core package. Further, it is desirable to have a method which includes a mold forming technique that is capable of precisely creating the mold core package such that the resulting cast past is a near net shape of the wheel.